Zena Grecni

Senior Global Futures Scientist, Global Futures Scientists and Scholars

Sustained Climate Assessment Strategic Lead, Pacific RISA, Global Institute of Sustainability & Innovation

1601 East-West Rd. Honolulu, HI 96848-1601
Mail code: 8204

Campus: Tempe
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Long Bio

Zena Grecni is a researcher at the ASU Global Institute of Sustainability & Innovation. She is a Co-Investigator and the Sustained Climate Assessment Strategic Lead for the Pacific RISA, a NOAA Climate Adaptation Partnerships (CAP) team. Based in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi, she works with a network of federal, state, and local partners to synthesize climate information and conduct assessments for the US-Affiliated Pacific Islands region. Ms. Grecni coordinates the Pacific Islands Regional Climate Assessment (PIRCA) and has served as Lead Author of assessments for Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. She was an author of the Hawai‘i and Pacific Islands chapter of the US Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA4) and is an author of the Fifth NCA, currently under development. Ms. Grecni's research interests include climate adaptation finance for small islands, climate change communication, freshwater and coastal governance, and environmental policy analysis. She has more than a decade of experience in the Pacific Islands.

Education

Yale University, School of the Environment, Master of Environmental Management, 2015

Oberlin College, Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies, 2008

Research Website URL

https://www.pacificrisa.org/

Research Group

Pacific RISA is an applied research team that supports Pacific island and coastal communities in adapting to the impacts of climate variability and change. It’s primary funding source is the NOAA Climate Adaptation Partnerships (CAP) program, formerly known as the Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments (RISA). Pacific RISA is one of 12 CAP/RISA teams across the U.S.

Publications

Keener, V., Grecni, Z., & Moser, S. C. (2022). Accelerating climate change adaptive capacity through regional sustained assessment and evaluation in Hawaiʻi and the U.S. Affiliated Pacific Islands. Frontiers in Climate, 4. https://doi.org/10.3389/fclim.2022.869760

Keener, V., Grecni, Z., Anderson-Tagarino, K., Shuler, C., & Miles, W. (2021). Climate Change in American Sāmoa: Indicators and Considerations for Key Sectors. Report for the Pacific Islands Regional Climate Assessment. Honolulu, HI: East-West Center.

Grecni, Z., Derrington, E. M., Greene, R., Miles, W., & Keener, V. (2021). Climate Change in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands: Indicators and Considerations for Key Sectors. Report for the Pacific Islands Regional Climate Assessment. Honolulu, HI: East-West Center.

Grecni, Z., Miles, W., King, R., Frazier, A., & Keener, V. (2020). Climate Change in Guam: Indicators and Considerations for Key Sectors. Report for the Pacific Islands Regional Climate Assessment. Honolulu, HI: East-West Center.

Miles, W., Grecni, Z., Matsutaro, E., Colin, P., Keener, V., Golbuu, Y. (2020). Climate Change in Palau: Indicators and Considerations for Key Sectors. Report for the Pacific Islands Regional Climate Assessment. Honolulu, HI: East-West Center.

Keener, V., Helweg, D., Asam, S., Balwani, S., Burkett, M., Fletcher, C., Giambelluca, T., Grecni, Z., Nobrega-Olivera, M., Polovina, J., & Tribble, G. (2018). Hawai‘i and U.S.-Affiliated Pacific Islands. In D. R. Reidmiller, C. W. Avery, D. R. Easterling, K. E. Kunkel, K. L. M. Lewis, T. K. Maycock, & B. C. Stewart (Eds.), Impacts, Risks, and Adaptation in the United States: Fourth National Climate Assessment, Volume II (pp. 1242–1308). U.S. Global Change Research Program. https://doi.org/10.7930/NCA4.2018.CH27

Finucane, M. L., Miller, R., Corlew, L. K., Keener, V. W., Burkett, M., & Grecni, Z. (2013). Understanding the Climate-Sensitive Decisions and Information Needs of Freshwater Resource Managers in Hawaii. Weather, Climate, and Society, 5(4), 293–308.

Research Activity

East-West Center, Honolulu, HI, Sustained Climate Assessment Specialist, 2018–2022; Project Specialist, 2016–2018; Project Assistant, 2012–2013

Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, New Haven, CT, Graduate Research Assistant, 2013–2015

Secretariat for the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), Apia, Samoa, Climate Change Assistant, 2014

Center for Island Climate Adaptation and Policy, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI, Program Associate, 2010–2012